1884.] on the Art of Fiction. 71 



should take up : the telling of stories is inconsistent with a well- 

 balanced mind; to be a teller of stories disqualifies one from a 

 hearing on important subjects 



With these people must not be confounded another class, not so 

 large, who are prepared to admit that Fiction is in some qualified 

 sense an Art ; but they do this as a concession to the vanity of its 

 followers, and are by no means prepared to allow that it is an Art of 

 the first rank. How can that be an Art, they might ask, which has 

 no lecturers or teachers, no school or college or Academy, no recog- 

 nised rules, no text-books, and is not taught in any University? 

 Even the German Universities, which teach everything else, do not 

 have Professors of Fiction, and not one single novelist, so far as I 

 know, has ever pretended to teach his mystery, or spoken of it as a 

 thing which may be taught. Clearly, therefore, they would go on to 

 argue, such art as is required for the making and telling of a story 

 can and must be mastered without study, because no materials exist 

 for the student's use. It may even, perhaps, be acquired uncon- 

 sciously, or by imitation. This view, I am sorry to say, largely 

 prevails among the majority of those who try their chance in the field 

 of fiction. Anyone, they think, can write a novel ; therefore, why 

 not sit down and write one ? I would not willingly say one word 

 which might discourage those who are attracted to this branch of 

 literature ; on the contrary, I would encourage them in every possible 

 way. One desires, however, that they should approach their work 

 at the outset with the same serious and earnest appreciation of its 

 importance and its difficulties with which they undertake the study of 

 music and painting. I would wish, in short, that from the very begin- 

 ning their minds should be fully possessed with the knowledge that 

 Fiction is an Art, and, like all other Arts, that it is governed by certain 

 laws, methods, and rules, which it is their first business to learn. 



It is, then, first and before all, a real Art. It is the oldest, because 

 it was known and practised long before Painting and her sisters were 

 in existence or even thought of ; it is older than any of the Muses 

 from whose company she who tells stories has hitherto been excluded ; 

 it is the most widely spread, because in no race of men under the sun 

 is it unknown, even though the stories may be always the same, and 

 handed down from generation to generation in the same form ; it is 

 the most religious of all the Arts, because in every age until the 

 present the lives, exploits and sufferings of gods, goddesses, saints 

 and heroes have been the favourite theme ; it has always been the 

 most popular, because it requires neither culture, education, nor 

 natural genius to understand and listen to a story ; it is the most 

 moral, because the world has always been taught whatever little 

 morality it possesses by way of story, fable, apologue, parable, and 

 allegory. It command's the widest influence, because it can be carried 

 easily and everywhere, into regions where pictures are never seen 

 and music is never heard ; it is the greatest teaching power, because 

 its lessons are most readily apprehended and understood. All this. 



